Wildflowers bloom in Northcliffe youth photo project

Wildflowers bloom in Northcliffe youth photo project

Regional Arts WA

Young Northcliffe locals partnered with the community’s Blooming Wild Wildflower Festival to run a youth photography project centred around the wildflower theme.

The Flora Foto Fest coordinating team holding their first meeting. Picture by Louise Stokes.

The group engaged Melbourne photographer Phillip Williams travel to the South West community to run a series of photography workshops for local young people.

Young project coordinators Georgia and Charlise arranged the workshops start-to-finish, working with writing the funding application for Drug Aware YCulture Regional support, collaborating with local councils and promoting the workshops through local media and community organisations.

The photography workshops extended far beyond Northcliffe – the duo engaged Philip Williams to travel throughout the South West region, educating avid young photographers in Pemberton, Nannup, Greenbushes, Balingup and Boyup Brook, engaging over 220 people in total. Participants got into their local bushland and forests and learned how to use a DSLR camera and perfect photography techniques for capturing their natural surroundings. Every participant had their best photo printed and displayed in an exhibition in their home town. A selection of photographs was chosen to be displayed at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show in April 2018.

The workshops marked the first time a number of participants had ever worked with photography. It’s inspired some of them to start a youth photography club in the South West and join up with the West Australian Photographic Federation, an organisation providing support to photographers and photographic clubs across the state.

‘It was good to learn new skills and to promote that this was a youth program, so people in our community can see young people doing things. Now our photos are going to the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show.

This promotes our town and our community and our work, not only to Australia, but the world. That’s pretty big for a small country town.’ – Georgia, young project coordinator

DrugAware YCulture Regional funding is open year-round, offering up to $6,000 to support creative community projects for young people regional Western Australia age 12 – 26. Interested? Apply now.

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